Keir Starmer’s honeymoon is over. Under fire for some minor missteps, the current criticism is that he has let the government get away with mismanagement of the pandemic – and now it is too late. Johnson, who seems to have more than nine lives, is now surfing the wave of vaccine success and the Tories have regained their opinion poll lead.
But Opposition politics, as Robert Shrimsley wrote wisely in today’s FT, is a long game, particularly at this stage of the political cycle and with Labour’s dire Corbyn baggage to contend with.
Starmer has brought competence back to the front bench and you could imagine him being a dull, but worthy contender for Prime Minister. But I am sure and certainly hope he is aware, that is not enough.
New Labour (yes, another version!) needs to stand for something and that is harder to do, as Robert Shrimsley highlighted, when the Tories have moved on to the Labour Party’s natural turf. It is also difficult to achieve in the middle of a pandemic. Who is going to listen to new Opposition policy initiatives, when a locked down public is largely fixated on dodging the virus and surviving through to the end of each month?
There will be time. As highlighted in last week’s blog, Rishi Sunak is boxed-in by manifesto commitments not to raise taxes, currently worth 64% of tax revenues. Filleting budget announcements, a plan for non-wasteful infrastructure investment, an overhaul of social care provision, educational and training reform and yes, a nod to cultural wars by embracing constructive English nationalism to make the Union work better, could all bring benefits over the medium term.
In the meantime, what strikes me about Labour is their almost total lack of charisma. That means something when up against ‘good times Johnson’ because when life improves and Johnson has his mojo back, it could be a dangerous weapon. Johnson is not loved by many of his colleagues and a large part of the electorate; but enough people who want to be cheered up may just give him another General Election victory if he lasts that long.
Labour, and particularly Starmer, at least post pandemic, need to look at their dress sense, their sense of optimism and their sense of humour (assuming there is one) and display it. Starmer feels more like Gordon Brown than Tony Blair currently, and lest we forget, the latter is the only Labour leader to have won an election since 1974. Think image, as Blairites would say…
Starmer needs to scour his colleagues for some pizzazz. Anneliese Dodds at the Treasury is simply too earnest, for example, and Lisa Nandy as Shadow Foreign Secretary, is underused.
Post pandemic, make us think but also make us smile. Be those people you wouldn’t mind having a drink with. In that way, Labour will get under Boris Johnson’s skin and, at the same time, make more electoral headway.
Inside Right Politics 